UC Berkeley has kept its coveted ranking as the nation’s top public university by U.S. News & World Report, with UCLA and the University of Virginia tied in second place and the University of Michigan coming in fourth.

Berkeley typically performs best in rankings when academic excellence, faculty quality and research are weighted heavily, according to campus analysts.

Once again this year, Berkeley ranked highly for its reputation in business and engineering, in speciality fields within these disciplines, as well as among high school guidance counselors.

In other U.S. News & World Report lists published this week, Berkeley ranked seventh for students amassing the least amount of cumulative debt, 11th for services and benefits extended to military veterans, 18th for faculty commitment to undergraduate teaching and 23rd for innovation in academics and campus life.